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John Bolton, Donald Trump’s ex-national security adviser, said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is still a “dead man walking” in the president’s Cabinet on Thursday after Michael Waltz was ousted from the top national security post.
Earlier in his CNN appearance, Bolton used the phrase to describe Waltz, whose role in inviting a reporter to a Signal chat with Trump officials led the president to nominate him to be his United Nations ambassador instead.
“I think they don’t want to have two go at the same time, so I think Hegseth has more time,” Bolton said of the former Fox News host, who shared highly sensitive military plans to the chat that included a reporter and details of impending attacks in another chat with family members and his attorney.
Years before Bolton was pushed out of Trump’s first administration, he served as U.N. ambassador under then-President George W. Bush.
Bolton blasted Vice President JD Vance for referring to Waltz’s U.N. ambassador nomination as a “promotion,” adding that there’s no question the national security post is more important.
He made the comments hours after The Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece in which Bolton weighed in on the Waltz move as he declared that “chaos is embedded in Trump’s DNA.”
Later in his CNN appearance, Bolton turned to far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer’s reported role in the firings of several National Security Council members last month.
In regard to influence she may have had in Waltz’s departure, Bolton said: “If she had any, this really is the inmates running the asylum.”
Bolton proceeded to slam political analysts who claim that Waltz “had to go” because he “wasn’t in tune” with the president.
“Well, who hired Waltz? I mean, who knows who’s in tune with the president better than the president,” Bolton said.
“This shows Trump has no philosophy, no national security strategy, doesn’t do policy. He hired Waltz and many other people because he expected fealty from them and when Waltz exposed Trump to political liability because of the Signal group chat, that was all Trump needed. That was not sufficient fealty.”
He described Trump’s decision-making as “random neuron flashes,” adding that the president isn’t “playing three-dimensional chess.”
He added: “This is Trump playing regular chess one move at a time and no further ahead than that.”
English (US) ·